The loss of forest cover in the northern regions of the world in 2021 was the highest on record: compared to 2020, they increased by 30%, according to experts from Global Forest Watch, an application for monitoring the planet’s forest cover in real time. The main reason for this jump they call a sharp increase in the number of forest fires in Russia.

Forests are shrinking in the north of the planet, but trees are declining fastest in the south, in the tropical regions of the world, accounting for more than 96% of global deforestation, according to a Global Forest Watch analysis .

According to experts, last year the forest cover was disappearing here every minute, an area comparable to ten football fields. Brazil leads by a wide margin, where deforestation for agricultural purposes is in full swing, and in second place is the Democratic Republic of the Congo. These two countries have been leading the way in virgin rainforest clearing for many years.

The new data captures only the loss of forests in 2021 and does not give a complete picture of the state of the planet’s forest cover, since it does not take into account new plantings.

However, the most worrisome factor in the new data is the loss of taiga forests in the northern parts of Russia, Canada and Alaska.

While deforestation and fires in these regions rarely result in permanent deforestation, the number of trees destroyed in 2021 is up 30% from 2020, the highest level on record.

The main cause of tree loss in these areas is thought to be climate change, as hotter, drier conditions result in more wildfires and more insect damage.

In Russia, the 2021 fire season was the worst since observations began in 2001, with over 6.5 million hectares of forest lost.

“This is very worrisome,” says Rod Taylor of the World Resources Institute, who contributed to the new Global Forest Watch analysis. “Global warming tends to happen faster as we get closer to the poles, so it looks like the ecosystem is not coping with climate change.” Therefore, we are seeing more frequent, extensive and intense fires compared to normal conditions.”

Loss of forests in the tropics has also remained at a very high level – in terms of the amount of carbon emitted, the destruction of these stands corresponds to the annual emissions from burning fossil fuels in all of India.

Brazil accounts for more than 40% of the world’s primary forest loss. At the same time, total deforestation, not related to fires, increased here by 9% – the researchers note that this is usually associated with the expansion of agriculture.

Researchers fear the Brazilian rainforest is about to reach a point where it emits more carbon than it stores. This will make it much more difficult to achieve a slowdown in global temperature increases this century.

There is also growing concern about the loss of trees in Bolivia, where more than two-thirds of tree felling is related to agriculture, particularly cattle.

There is some good news, though: Indonesia has been cutting forest cover loss for the fifth year in a row. This is due to several reasons.

The Indonesian government has imposed a moratorium on deforestation and the draining of peatlands for palm oil production. It also included in the national climate change plan a commitment to reduce emissions from forests so that by 2030 trees absorb more carbon than they produce.

Deforestation for palm oil production in Indonesia has reached its lowest level in 20 years. The government has once again tightened the rules by which the pulp and paper industry receives permits to use the new land.

However, there are fears that the situation in Indonesia may change for the worse in the coming years.

“The price of palm oil is currently at its highest level in 40 years, and this could increase the appetite of industrialists and lead to the expansion of plantation areas,” says Hidaya Hamza of the World Resources Institute Indonesia. “And a temporary ban on new oil palm plantations was not extended last year.

Although the data from Indonesia (as well as from Malaysia) is encouraging, the overall picture remains troubling.

At the COP26 conference in Glasgow last fall, more than 140 countries committed to halt and reverse deforestation by 2030.

In many countries, this will require decisive and swift action – which has not yet been observed.

One of the main problems is that, despite the best efforts of many governments to conserve forests, a rapidly changing climate can undo their work.

“Wildfires are often associated with the hotter and more difficult conditions that climate change brings. This exacerbates the effects of deforestation itself,” says Frances Seymour of the World Resources Institute. “And these losses are bringing us closer and closer to the moment when changes become irreversible, for example, the massive transformation of the Amazon rainforest into savannahs [ on which grass cover prevails – ed. ]. This will release enough carbon into the atmosphere to negate all the goals of the Paris Agreement.”

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